"precise definitions, here are some general observations about how they are used. A small minority of openings are prefixed with ""Anti-"". These are openings intended to avoid a particular line otherwise available to one's opponent, for example the Anti-Marshall (against the Marshall (Counter) Attack in the Ruy Lopez) and the Anti-Meran Gambit (against the Meran Variation of the Semi-Slav Defense). Chess openings are primarily categorized by move sequences. The beginning chess position offers White twenty possible first moves. Of these, 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.Nf3, and 1.c4 are by far the most popular as these moves do the most to promote rapid"
"Chess opening A chess opening or simply an opening refers to the initial moves of a chess game. The term can refer to the initial moves by either side, White or Black, but an opening by Black may also be known as a defense. There are dozens of different openings, and hundreds of variants. ""The Oxford Companion to Chess"" lists 1,327 named openings and variants. These vary widely in character from to wild tactical play. In addition to referring to specific move sequences, the opening is the first phase of a chess game, the other phases being the middlegame and"
"first moves suffers one or more of the following defects compared to the more popular choices: Chess opening A chess opening or simply an opening refers to the initial moves of a chess game. The term can refer to the initial moves by either side, White or Black, but an opening by Black may also be known as a defense. There are dozens of different openings, and hundreds of variants. ""The Oxford Companion to Chess"" lists 1,327 named openings and variants. These vary widely in character from to wild tactical play. In addition to referring to specific move sequences, the"
"10 to 25 moves, when players develop their armies and set up the stage for the coming battle; middlegame, the developed phase of the game; and endgame, when most of the pieces are gone and kings start to take an active part in the struggle. A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a game (the ""opening moves""). Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as ""openings"" and have been given names such as the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defence. They are catalogued in reference works such as the ""Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings"". It is recommended for"
"descriptive categorization of the chess opening is King's Pawn Openings, Queen's Pawn Openings, and Others. Since these categories are still individually very large, it is common to divide each of them further. One reasonable way to group the openings is: The Indian systems (1.d4 Nf6) are the most important of the Semi-Closed Games, and warrant separate treatment. White starts by playing 1.e4 (moving his king pawn two spaces). This is the most popular opening move and it has many strengths—it immediately works on controlling the center, and it frees two pieces (the queen and a bishop). The oldest openings in"
"anyone but the chessmasters that when left with a choice to either invent a new variation or follow a standard opening, choose the latter. There are dozens of different openings, varying widely in character from quiet positional play (e.g. the Réti Opening) to very aggressive (e.g. the Latvian Gambit). In some opening lines, the exact sequence considered best for both sides has been worked out to 30–35 moves or more. Professional players spend years studying openings, and continue doing so throughout their careers, as opening theory continues to evolve. The fundamental strategic aims of most openings are similar: During the"
"Backgammon opening theory The first moves of a backgammon game are the opening moves, collectively referred to as the opening, and studied in the backgammon opening theory. Backgammon opening theory is not developed in as much detail as opening theory in chess, which has been widely studied. The reason for this is that following the first move in backgammon, there are 21 dice roll outcomes on each subsequent move, and many alternative plays for each outcome, making the tree of possible positions in backgammon expand much more rapidly than in chess. Despite the complications posed by this rapid branching of"
"plays that are on average as effective, because the character of the move (passive or aggressive) better suits his or her playing style. Backgammon opening theory The first moves of a backgammon game are the opening moves, collectively referred to as the opening, and studied in the backgammon opening theory. Backgammon opening theory is not developed in as much detail as opening theory in chess, which has been widely studied. The reason for this is that following the first move in backgammon, there are 21 dice roll outcomes on each subsequent move, and many alternative plays for each outcome, making"
"are dozens of different openings, varying widely in character from quiet (for example, the Réti Opening) to very aggressive (the Latvian Gambit). In some opening lines, the exact sequence considered best for both sides has been worked out to more than 30 moves. Professional players spend years studying openings and continue doing so throughout their careers, as opening theory continues to evolve. The fundamental strategic aims of most openings are similar: Most players and theoreticians consider that White, by virtue of the first move, begins the game with a small advantage. This initially gives White the initiative. Black usually strives"
"Open Game An Open Game (or Double King's Pawn Opening) is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: White has moved the king's pawn two squares and Black has replied in kind. The result is an Open Game. Other responses to 1.e4 are termed Semi-Open Games or Single King's Pawn Games. It should not be confused with the term """" (lowercase ""o""), referring to a chess position where ranks, files and diagonals are open, and tending to more tactical gameplay. White opens by playing 1.e4, which is the most popular opening move and has many strengths—it immediately stakes"
"development of the queen in the Danvers Opening (2.Qh5) or the Napoleon Opening (2.Qf3) looks amateurish, though the Danvers Opening (also called the Wayward Queen Attack) has been played in a grandmaster tournament by Hikaru Nakamura. The Portuguese Opening (2.Bb5), Alapin's Opening (2.Ne2), Konstantinopolsky Opening (2.Nf3 Nc6 3.g3), and Inverted Hungarian Opening (2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Be2) are offbeat tries for White, though none promise any advantage in the face of correct play. Open Game An Open Game (or Double King's Pawn Opening) is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: White has moved the king's pawn two squares and"
"moves per game (or 20 chess move-pairs). Like chess, however, the game can be divided into the opening, middle game and endgame, each requiring a different strategy. The opening consists of arranging one's defenses usually in a castle and positioning for attack, the mid game consists of attempting to break through the opposing defenses while maintaining one's own, and the endgame starts when one side's defenses have been compromised. In the adjacent diagram, Black has chosen a Ranging Rook position (specifically Fourth File Rook) where the rook has been moved leftward away from its starting position. Additionally, Black is utilizing"
"2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nge7 7.Bc4 d6 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 Na5 10.Bd3 d5 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.c3 Rd8 14.Qc2 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Qxc4 16.Qf2 c5 17.Nf3 b6 18.Ne5 Qe6 19.Qf3 Ba6 20.Rfe1 f6 21.Ng4 h5 22.Nf2 Qf7 23.f5 g5 24.Rad1 Bb7 25.Qg3 Rd5 26.Rxd5 Qxd5 27.Rd1 Qxf5 28.Qc7 Bd5 29.b3 Re8 30.c4 Bf7 31.Bc1 Re2 32.Rf1 Qc2 33.Qg3 Qxa2 34.Qb8+ Kh7 35.Qg3 Bg6 36.h4 g4 37.Nd3 Qxb3 38.Qc7 Qxd3 0–1 Three Knights Opening The Three Knights Game is a chess opening which most commonly begins with the moves: In the Three Knights Game, Black chooses to"
"""Chess"", February–March 1981. The gambit was picked up by Michael Basman who further developed it, the critical line runs: 4...exd4 5.e5 Ng4 6.0-0 (6.Bf4 d6) 6...Be7 (6...Ngxe5 7.Nxe5 Nxe5 8.Qxd4 Nc6 9.Qc3 and Black has problems with ; Basman) 7.Nxd4 Ngxe5 8.f4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Ng6! 10.f5 (10.Qxg7 Bf6 11.Qh6!?) 10...Bf6 11.Qf2 Ne7. Bibliography Inverted Hungarian Opening The Inverted Hungarian Opening or Tayler Opening is an uncommon chess opening that starts with the moves: It is so-named because the position of White's bishop on e2 resembles that of Black's bishop on e7 in the Hungarian Defense. ""This opening is also known"
"which are given one or more chapters in the ""Encyclopedia of Chess Openings"" (ECO) are given below, ranked in order of popularity. Like White's move, Black's move is non-committal as to opening. 2. d4 is identical to 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 (see Queen's Pawn Game). 2. c4 is a common start for the English Opening or it may be brought back to the Queen's Gambit Declined 2. g3 is a common start for the King's Indian Attack. Black stakes a claim to the center. White has many transpositional options. 2. d4 is again the same as 1. d4 d5"
"as not to merit discussion. These openings sometimes lead to wild and exciting games, and are occasionally employed by weaker players to get better trained opponents ""out-of-book"". Some have exotic names, they are listed below along with instances where they have been used by strong players. Bibliography King's Pawn Game The King's Pawn Game is any chess opening starting with the move: It is among the most popular opening moves in chess. White opens with the most popular of the twenty possible opening moves. Although effective in winning for White (54.25%), it is not quite as successful as the four"
"the best opening lines. The books contain only a small amount of text, which is in eight languages. The bulk of the book consists of diagrams of positions and chess moves in International figurine algebraic notation, with special symbols for comments about moves (see Chess annotation symbols). Instead of the traditional names for the openings, ""ECO"" has developed a coding system that has also been adopted by other chess publications. There are five main categories, ""A"" to ""E"", each of which is divided into 100 subcategories. ""ECO"" codes generally only cover openings that are commonly seen at the master/grandmaster level"
"Go opening strategy Go opening strategy is the strategy applied in Go opening. On the traditional 19×19 board the opening phase of the game usually lasts between 15 and 40 plies. There are some conventional divisions that are applied. Firstly there is the distinction that may be drawn between go opening theory, the codified variations that resemble chess openings in the way that they occur repeated in games, and ""go opening principles"". Since there is great freedom of choice, the fundamental opening principles are more useful for all players before they reach dan player level. Examples of principles that are"
"Closed Game A Closed Game (or Double Queen's Pawn Opening) is a chess opening that begins with the moves: The move 1.d4 offers the same benefits to development and center control as does 1.e4, but unlike with the King Pawn openings where the e4 pawn is undefended after the first move, the d4 pawn is protected by White's queen. This slight difference has a tremendous effect on the opening. For instance, whereas the King's Gambit is rarely played today at the highest levels of chess, the Queen's Gambit remains popular at all levels of play. Also, compared with the King"
"top-level tournament play. Similarly, the Marshall Defense (2...Nf6) is very rarely seen in grandmaster play, as most theoreticians consider it definitely inferior for Black. Closed Game A Closed Game (or Double Queen's Pawn Opening) is a chess opening that begins with the moves: The move 1.d4 offers the same benefits to development and center control as does 1.e4, but unlike with the King Pawn openings where the e4 pawn is undefended after the first move, the d4 pawn is protected by White's queen. This slight difference has a tremendous effect on the opening. For instance, whereas the King's Gambit is"
"an awful idea. Each player has 256 Pawns and 256 pieces. The average length of a game is likely to be more [than] 2000 moves."" Betza also considered starting positions with 16 (one chess set) or 64 (four sets) pieces instead of 32 (two sets), but eventually rejected them. They are as follows: Betza also suggested ""Four Board Great Chess"", which would have more pieces than the rose that could not make their full moves on smaller boards, and having pawns on the third rank and about 24 pieces in the two rows behind them; and similarly, ""Four Board Great"
"with one less tempo. Defenses beginning with 1...c6 and 1...e6, often followed by the center thrust 2...d5, are also popular. Defenses with an early ...d6 coupled with a kingside fianchetto are also commonly played. The most important scheme of classifying chess openings for serious players is by ECO code, a series of 500 opening codes assigned by the ""Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings"". Although these codes are invaluable for the serious study of the chess opening, they are not very practical for a broad survey of the chess opening as the codes obscure common structural features between related openings. A simple"
"of the position. Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such as isolated, doubled, or backward pawns and , once created, are often permanent. Care must therefore be taken to avoid these weaknesses unless they are compensated by another valuable asset (for example, by the possibility of developing an attack). A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a game (the ""opening moves""). Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as ""openings"" and have been given names such as the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defense. They are catalogued in reference works such as the ""Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings"". There"
"Blumenfeld Gambit The Blumenfeld Gambit is a chess opening characterised by the moves 3...e6 4.Nf3 b5 in the Benoni Defense arising after: or alternatively: In fact, as many as 30 different move orders are possible. The ""Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings"" sorts the Blumenfeld Gambit under code E10 (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3). Black sacrifices a pawn to establish an imposing centre with pawns on c5, d5 and e6. The natural development of the bishops to b7 and d6, combined with the half-open f-file for a rook, tend to facilitate Black's play on the kingside. White, on the other hand, will"
"or Old Indian Defense, or Black may play 2...Bg4, sometimes called the Wade Defence (A41, see ). Queen's Pawn Game The Queen's Pawn Game is any chess opening starting with the move: It is the second most popular opening move after 1.e4. The name is usually used to describe openings beginning with 1.d4 where White does not play the Queen's Gambit. The most common Queen's Pawn Game openings are: In the ""Encyclopedia of Chess Openings"" (""ECO""), Closed Games (1.d4 d5) are classified under codes D00–D05. Openings where Black does not play 1...d5 are called Semi-Closed Games and classified as: In"
"Sokolsky Opening The Sokolsky Opening (also known as the Orangutan or Polish) is an uncommon chess opening that begins with the move: According to various databases, out of the twenty possible first moves from White, the move 1.b4 ranks ninth in popularity. It is considered an irregular opening, so it is classified under the A00 code in the ""Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings"" (""ECO""). The opening has never been popular at the top level, though a number of prominent players have employed it on occasion (for example, Richard Réti against Abraham Speijer in Scheveningen 1923 and Boris Spassky against Vasily Smyslov"
"in the late 19th century), ending in Holmes checkmating Moriarty, just as Watson foils Moriarty's plans. 1.c4 is also used in ""Pawn Sacrifice"" by Bobby Fischer in the climactic game six of the 1972 World Chess Championship versus Boris Spassky. English Opening The English Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move: A flank opening, it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, anywhere from one of the two most successful to the fourth most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins the fight for the by staking a claim to the d5-square"
"King's Pawn Game The King's Pawn Game is any chess opening starting with the move: It is among the most popular opening moves in chess. White opens with the most popular of the twenty possible opening moves. Although effective in winning for White (54.25%), it is not quite as successful as the four next most common openings for White: 1.d4 (55.95%), 1.Nf3 (55.8%), 1.c4 (56.3%), and 1.g3 (55.8%). Since nearly all openings beginning 1.e4 have names of their own, the term ""King's Pawn Game"", unlike Queen's Pawn Game, is rarely used to describe the opening of the game. Advancing the"
"King's Fianchetto Opening The King's Fianchetto Opening or Benko's Opening (also known as the Hungarian Opening, Barcza Opening, or Bilek Opening) is a chess opening characterized by the move: White's 1.g3 ranks as the fifth most popular opening move, but it is far less popular than 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4 and 1.Nf3. It is usually followed by 2.Bg2, fianchettoing the bishop. Nick de Firmian writes that 1.g3 ""can, and usually does, transpose into almost any other opening in which White fianchettos his king's bishop"". Included among these are the Catalan Opening, the King's Indian Attack and some variations of the English"
"MIGOS (MIni GO Solver) completely solved the game of Go for the 5×5 board. Black wins, taking the whole board. Continuing the comparison to chess, Go moves are not as limited by the rules of the game. For the first move in chess, the player has twenty choices. Go players begin with a choice of 55 distinct legal moves, accounting for symmetry. This number rises quickly as symmetry is broken, and soon almost all of the 361 points of the board must be evaluated. Some moves are much more popular than others and some are almost never played, but all"
"Richter–Veresov Attack The Richter–Veresov Attack (or Veresov Opening) is a chess opening that begins with the moves: It is also often reached by transposition, for example 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5 (the most common move order), 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Nc3, or 1.Nc3 Nf6 2.d4 d5 3.Bg5. The opening was named after the German International Master Kurt Richter and later the Soviet master Gavriil Veresov, who played it frequently for over a quarter of a century. Along with the Trompowsky Attack, Colle System, London System, and Torre Attack, the Richter–Veresov Attack is one of the more common branches of the"
"Mieses Opening The Mieses Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move: The opening is named after the German-British grandmaster Jacques Mieses. It is considered an irregular opening, so it is classified under the A00 code in the ""Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings"" (ECO). White's 1.d3 releases his c1-bishop and makes a modest claim for the centre, but since it does not stake out as large a share of the centre as 1.d4 does, it is not a popular opening move. Of the twenty possible first moves for White, it ranks tenth in popularity. Nevertheless, since 1...d6 is playable"
"specific openings based upon initial move sequences in a way reminiscent to the way western chess openings are classified although it is more common for Japanese theory to categorize openings by their shape rather than move sequences. (Cf. ""Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings."") Below are common four-move sequences associated with common openings as presented by Kōji Tanigawa on the NHK television program ""Shōgi Kōza"" (NHK将棋講座) in April 2006 and organized by the position of Black. By advancing their rook pawn (1. ☗P-26) in the first four moves, Black reveals very early their intention to play a Static Rook position. Although this"